Have you ever dreamed of flapping your wings and than taking off in flight? While many of us have had dreams about stuff like this. Dutch engineer Jarno Smeets runs through a park in the Hague flapping enormous, kite-like wings – and suddenly ‘lifts off’, flying 300 feet through the air.
Smeets claims to be the first human being to fly like a bird, without a jet or rotors – instead, he uses wings which ‘amplify’ his muscles, with the motion sensors from Nintendo’s Wii transferring motions into motors in the wings.. That’s right, he actually managed to flap his engineered wings and fly
Smeets developed the wings over an eight-month period using a special motion mechanism built around an Android phone and Nintendo Wii controllers. The heart of it all is an Android smartphone which processes Jarno’s arm acceleration and computes the corresponding motor output. The phone is connected to a Seeduino ADK microcontroller, which connects to two Wii Motion Plus and a Wii Nunchuck. These are used to measure the acceleration, motion and all the different parameters required for making the calculations needed for the wing flapping.
Taking notes from nature, this design was inspired by the albatross:
Just like birds, humans have to amplify their locomotion to get control and get familiar with their new body expansion—the Wings. In my conception this is something which is independent of any hardware of software problem.
So he payed attention and learned how to amplify his moves, resulting in a successful test flight that took him over a distance of 328 feet. The lightweight wings are simple and strong enough to lift Jarno’s body weight.
The wings are relatively simple, they are lightweight and large enough to sustain his body when enough lift is achieved. It’s the flapping mechanism and the haptic controlling system that makes the whole thing work.
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Smeets lifts off – powered only by a run up and the flapping of the wings, without a rocket or a rotor in sight
The engineer’s suit is made from a 200 square foot ‘kite’, powered by motorised wings which ‘amplify’ Smeets’s arm movements
Smeets takes a run-up for his test flight. The 31-year-old engineer claims that he ‘flew’ 300 feet and stayed in the air for a minute
Hang gliders are cheaper and more fun. Thanks anyway. When he develops one that works without motors in the wings, I’ll invest in one.